We reference prayer a lot here on this blog. But what is it? Are we just throwing our hopes up into the air and wishing?
From Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology, p. 384:
Biblical faith is never a kind of wishful thinking or a vague hope that does not have any secure foundation to rest upon. It is rather trust in a person, God himself, based on the fact that we take him at his word and believe what he has said. This trust or dependence on God, when it has an element of assurance or confidence, is genuine biblical faith.
David helps us think about what that confidence looks like:
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah
Psalm 62:5-8
“Pour out your heart before him.” What a great request! Our helper and provider, the one in whom we can trust absolutely, welcomes our heart-felt cries from the depths of our hearts. And then he promises refuge.
Pray earnestly today, and hope in him alone.
The Works of God 
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